I started this thread to encourage anyone with experience to mention what species they find easy or hard to mantain in pots, and any cultural Do's or Don'ts they have learned.


I don't have much experience in pots or planters, but some perennials I would love to grow in pots are:

- many varieties of Salvia, so I can move them around and isolate them from other Salvia so i can collect true seeds

- Lavender, since I have clay and constant drizzle, and wnat to give them sharp drainage

- Columbine, just so i can have many varieties

- Penstemeon, just becuase I;m havuing a hard time starting them, and would not want to lose one to slugs or garden fork.

Also, I have very limited space in raised beds with sun, but I do have a deck and a driveway with sunny spots.






Container grown dwarf blueberry

The following have over wintered in pots here:
Delphinium
soapwort (creeping one)
viola
caraway
sweet william
candytuft (perennial kind)

Good topic. I am big on container gardening and with the exception of herbs and few other things, the overwhelming majority of my pots are perennials.

Are you asking about plants specific to your zone, Rick?

I've found lilies overwinter really well in pots, if you keep them to one zone colder hardiness than you are. For example Asiatic lilies are good to zone 3, so they should overwinter well in pots up to zone 4. I do try to tip the pots over if I can, so they don't have freezing and thawing water standing on the top of the pot.

I have lots of perennials, grasses, etc. in pots...clay pots 14" and larger. I don't have to worry about the cold so that's not an issue and actually for the salvias, the drainage is excellent.

Good to know, Sherry. I have salvia coming from Mamajacks co-op, and I plan to put them in containers.

As my water bills continue to rise, I'm putting more and more things in containers...also because taking care of things in-ground is getting harder to do on a large scale and yet I want to grow everything possible...lol..

Violas overwintering in pots in Calgary? Thanks, Caroline. I was just given a little seed for several Viola varieties, and I was not eager to just feed them to the slugs!


>> Are you asking about plants specific to your zone, Rick?

Tee, I personally am mostly curious about what I can keep going in pots in Zone 8, but if something is marginal, I can always over-winter those pots up on my sheltered deck, close up against the poorly-insulated house!

Also, someone on another thread wished for a "Perennials in Pots" thread so I started this hoping others would share experiences, especially Do's and Don'ts.

Sherry said:
>> ... clay pots 14" and larger

Hmm, I have several plastic pots scrounged from a nursery. They look like 1.5 or 2 gallons, maybe 10-11" across. I was hoping to use them. Maybe just split those plants more often? Or use thoise for small plants (Violas)?

Do you think the clay pots are lots better than plastic? The idea of being "Zone-cautious" by 1 extra or even two extra Zones sounds smart to me.

Things do much better for me in clay pots...perhaps I tend to overwater...don't know, but I'm one of those who feel that plants can 'breathe better' in clay pots. Most plants are going to need larger than a 1 gallon if you're going to want to kep them in it for awhile. Clay pots from WM are always on my 'Birthday or Christmas wish list' and this last couple of years I bit the bullet and started buying more clay pots. I have a lot of plastic pots and use those now for growing veggies and strawberries and larger 5 gal size plants larger plants...etc.

>> Most plants are going to need larger than a 1 gallon if you're going to want to keep them in it for awhile.

Good to know!

My paranoia about drowning roots / overwatering leads me to seek the fastest-draining mix I can make. Hence the bags of medium pine bark mulch and multple screening steps! And the 50 pound bag of #2 chicken grit. And only buying the coarse4st grade of Perlite.

Which brings up an interesting question: what does everyone use as the growing medium in their pots?

I use a combination of potting mix with a tad of compost and maybe some perlite (depends).

For the succulents, I purchase a succulent mix but sometimes it has been really crummy so I've had to reformulate it with a little sand, potting soil, potting mix and other things mixed into it.

I use peat/ perlite/sand with CRF, fish emulsion, seaweed extract ..or roughly based on tapla's mix for containers.....some lime and bark fines.

Sherry, what's CRF? to me CRF is chronic renal failure, but I don't think that's what you're thinking...

Karen

I recently read that there is a worldwide peat shortage so prices are going up, up, up.

Anyone in areas that freeze needs to be careful with ceramic pots which can freeze and crack. But plastic pots can blow around like crazy in winter winds. They get blown around 12 months a year here.

An option is to bury pots over winter to protect roots. A likely spot would be an annual vegetable bed. Reason would dictate the size of the pot. And if buried, the pot needs good drainage.

Karen

CRF= Controlled Release Fertilizer...sorry.

Karen

For the very few plants I've put into containers, I've made a mix very loosely based on Al's gritty mix. Mostly screened medium pine bulk mulch trying to remove as many fines as I can, plus around 15-20% other stuff like crushed rock or coarse Perlite.

The "other stuff" includes 5-10% of whatever potting mix or seed starting mix I have, and I figure that includes more than enoguh peat.

I can never get rid of all the fines from a bag of mulch, and I figure that almost replaces the peat ... just not quite as "wicking" or "hydrophillic" as peat ... but the mix I wind up with always seems more than soggy enough and more than water-retentive enough.

I've been seeking a faster-draining and more-airy mix for a few years, and really haven't gotten all the way there yet.

I think I want more #2 chicken grit (1-2 mm crushed granite) or coarser grit (very fine gravel).

And I want fewer pine bark fines (spend more time screening with 1/4" & 1/2" screens, or find a 1/3" or 3/8" screen). Probably, if I could get rid of more of the "bark dust", I would be happier about adding 10-15% peat as Al suggests.

If I found coarser grit or found and splurged on the expanded rock 'Turface' product, that coarser fraction would also make me happier about bark or peat fines. But I am very cheap!

Ok Guys, I love container gardening! I'm in zone 7

Heuchera, sedum, crocus









Blue Poppy. Sure hope it blooms this year











I put most anything in a container. Small trees, Hebee, grass, Heuchera, sedums. Then add annuals in the summer that I grow in the greehouse. I use HP soil and some times add a bit of compost.

I'm just the opposite. I'd rather grow anything in the ground. Most years I use few containers. Stuff in the ground takes care of itself for the most part. Pots have to depend on my for water, poor things. Unfortunately, all living things need water, and if they have to count on me, they can get pretty thirsty.

Karen